Garold R. Spindler

Garold Ralph (Peck) Spindler worked in a variety of occupations including miner and mine operator, professional basketball player in a farm club, boxer, and deputy sheriff of Preston County. He worked as a director of the West Virginia School of Mines Extension and for the West Virginia Department of Mines. In 1946, Ralph joined Joy Manufacturing Company as sales engineer for Europe. He lived in Europe for two years, during which time Ralph consulted widely in Europe. He visited mines from Spitzbergen to the Ruhr, the Sahr, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, advising on mechanization. He also was a distinguished guest lecturer at the University of Sheffield in England. Upon returning to Morgantown, West Virginia, he became director at the School of Mines at West Virginia University. He consulted extensively throughout the United States, completing engineering studies on properties ranging from the Usibelli mine in Alaska to mines operating near Gallop, New Mexico. He became dean in 1951 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 1958. Throughout his life, Ralph brought a fiercely held devotion to the State of West Virginia, to the coal industry and to the students at West Virginia School of Mines. He performed valuable research on mechanization and investigations into methane drainage in the Pittsburgh Coal Seam. It was, however, his roles as teacher and administrator that are most remembered. His unselfish dedication to the success and well-being of each individual student is the hallmark of his career and professional life.